Russian journalist facing 24-year jail term for treason refuses to sign ‘confession’

Moments before the journalist Ivan Safronov was told he would be facing 24 years in prison, a Russian prosecutor offered him a deal.

Sign a confession, she said during a final courtroom break, and she would recommend a 12-year sentence instead. Safronov answered immediately.

“He told her to get lost,”said Evgeny Smirnov, his lawyer, in an interview. “He told her that fairly harshly.”

A Russian judge is expected to deliver a verdict on Monday in one of the most significant prosecutions against a Russian journalist in decades.

Safronov, a former military correspondent for Kommersant and Vedomosti, is facing a “record” sentence on treason charges that have been prosecuted with secret evidence behind closed doors.

That secret evidence, revealed by the Proekt media outlet in an extraordinary leak during the trial, showed that the government barely had a case against Safronov, colleagues said.

“I think it’s incredibly important that this showed that Vanya was imprisoned for his journalism,” said Taisia Bekbulatova, a friend and colleague of Safronov’s who is the head editor of Holod, an independent media site. She called the 24-year sentence requested by prosecutors “nearly a life sentence”.

Overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and the introduction of new laws against discrediting the Russian armed forces, the court case represents a fundamental threat to the journalists who continue to work in Russia.

“Vanya’s case isn’t just about him and his family,” said Smirnov by telephone from Georgia, where he fled due to legal risks tied to the case. “The government has shown that for good, legal journalism work, you can go to prison for a long time. And it will have an enormous chilling effect.”

Supporters of Safronov suspect that he is being targeted by the defence ministry for his work revealing the intricacies of Russia’s international trade in weapons.

In particular, said Smirnov, the defence believes that he may have been targeted for revealing plans for a sale of 20 Su-35 fighter jets to Egypt for a reported sum of $2bn. The deal was soon aborted and, according to the secret evidence, Safronov’s article resulted in complaints from the Egyptian military leadership to Russia.

“The ministry of defence hated Safronov as the most prominent journalist who wrote about their failures,” said Bekbulatova. “And it’s clear that Shoigu and others have enough resources in order to provoke a criminal case against him.”

Safronov’s case began years before the Russian invasion that would introduce tough new laws on journalism and force hundreds of journalists to flee the country.

“I’ve spoken with a large number of military correspondents since this case,” said Smirnov. “They’ve all changed the way they live and work since Ivan’s case. Many have refused investigations because of it.”

Safronov comes from a family of investigative journalists. His father, also Ivan, was a military correspondent for Kommersant who mysteriously died in a fall from the window of the family’s apartment in 2007. Russian media have reported he was working on a similar story about the shipment of Su-30 fighters and S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. The article was eventually scrapped.

Safronov, a dedicated journalist, followed in his father’s footsteps at the same newspaper. Bekbulatova called him the “brightest, best-informed, and bravest” reporter in terms of the Russian defence industry.

His lawyers described him as defiant in prison even after the prosecutor announced it would seek 24 years in prison for Safronov, a “record” in these types of treason cases, according to Smirnov, that was a “last attempt to force him to confess”.

“His mood hasn’t changed at all,” said Smirnov. “He still believes completely in his innocence and this [potential] prison term has not broken him at all.”

Prosecutors have put incredible pressure on Safronov and his legal team during the case.

“Ivan had a very difficult first six months [in prison],” Smirnov said. “Then he made a decision that he wouldn’t play any games with the FSB, that he wouldn’t agree to anything, and after he made that decision it became easier for him.”

One lawyer from Safronov’s team has been jailed during the case. Smirnov was also forced to flee the country, he said, after it was revealed that he was under investigation by the FSB security service.

Before he left, Smirnov said, he visited Safronov one last time in prison. “We hugged, we said goodbye, and we said we’ll see each other again as free people,” he said.